Customer Reviews

Franklin Electronics SA-206 Spelling Ace with Thesaurus

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Urging other customers to buy another product insteadI bought this Franklin SA 206 Spelling Ace for my 10-year-old son hoping that it would be a less expensive version of the Franklin MWD-1440 Dictionary and Thesaurus that I use and enjoy.

Unfortunately, the Franklin SA 206 Spelling Ace only has a single line display (albeit with very large characters) which requires him to scroll constantly to read the entire dictionary or thesaurus entry. Because of this, he's always borrowing my Franklin MWD-1440 -- which has a five line display -- and is consequently much easier to use.

If you need a dictionary and thesaurus, get the Franklin MWD-1440 for the five-line display.

If you don't need the thesaurus, get the Franklin HW 216 Homework Wiz Plus (which I bought for my eight-year-old daughter, who loves it) which -- is a dictionary only -- and has a two-line display.

The Franklin MWD-1440 Dictionary and Thesaurus, and the Franklin HW 216 Homework Wiz Plus are used constantly. The Frankly SA 206 Spelling Ace just sits in the drawer.

I bought this thinking it would be handy to have at school for looking up definitions to words. It's not. The definitions it has are too simple, and they are not easy to read. The print is so large that you must scroll to read the whole entry.

One of the main reasons I bought it was so I could have a pocket thesaurus if I ever needed to think of that perfect word on the spot. The problem is, the synonyms it provides all have the same definition. Therefore, if I wanted to find another word for "lazy" it would come up with LAZY (ADJ): IND-> with an arrow. You must then press the right arrow twenty times to have it reveal, letter by letter, the rest of the definition. "indisposed to expend effort to achieve and aim" Then when it gives you synonyms, you get words like indolent. Try to see what the definition of indolent is, and you get "indisposed to expend effort to achieve and aim". So, not only is this unhelpful if you need to know how synonyms have different connotations, it's also very frustrating if you're not sure how to pronounce it. Is it INdolent? inDOlent? You have no way of knowing.
Another final complaint is that the batteries are hard to change. You have to get out a screw driver and everything.

Anyone who needs a large print pocket speller (useful for spelling ONLY) should buy this. Anyone else should opt for a more expensive version that has better definitions and a larger screen

I purchased this as a gift, and it is absolutely perfect. Easy to use, nice big display for even the oldest of eyes to easily see! The body of this model is larger than previous ones, which is a big plus. It is much easier to handle, and the buttons are also bigger. Great for kids and adults alike. Great for the daily newspaper Jumbles, but more importantly, the Crossword Puzzles! Buy it w/ complete confidence....it is all it portrays itself to be.

I love this Spelling Ace! It shows often "confusable" words, as well as an extended collection of synonyms and antonyms. There are nice word games included as well! The instructions are printed on the cover of the Spelling Ace. This is great for persons who lose directions often, such as myself!

This is a great little tool for use in the office especially when you type a lot of memos, policies, procedures, etc. I use it primarily for the thesaurus, so I cannot comment on the other features. The only problem I have is that the lid pops off every time I use it. No biggie, but a fact.

This would be great for 'school age' people. It doesn't have the rarely used words that will score the points in word games.
It does a great job shuffling letters to find the longest word possible. It displays the words in length / alpha order. I've found it doesn't have definitions for all words in it.

For doing serious writing, I'll stick with my computer spell-check. I use the Spelling Ace for word games.

The letters are displayed large and easy to read. No backlight.

First, this Franklin Spelling Ace is excellent. My children use it everyday in school and at home,and second it is recommended for age groups from 5-13 years old. Dah

ok so i bought this figuring it will help me with essays and homework. I firgured this would not be the best, but would do its job and that what i wanted. Well it doesnt. First of all the dictionary isnt completely accurate. The Thesaurus and calculator are good. When this came to my door, i was expecting something smaller, and more sleek. This is huge (bigger than my hand) heavy and the letters are huge. They take up the whole screen, so you have to scroll to the sides and up and down to read the words. Overall its junk, its not worth the money, get something a bit more so its worth the money.

The Franklin Spelling Ace is pretty good with games, thesaurus, and spell check, but the display was designed poorly. The screen has huge print and you have to scroll constantly to read the full definition of a word. The auto scrolling is too slow and it can very tedious to read definitions. There is a list feature to put in your own words for future reference. The games are enjoyable. I originally got this a few years ago hoping to use it as a quick dictionary, but many of the words I looked up either weren't included or didn't have a definition. Also, similar words all had the same exact definitions, which didn't help when trying to find the best word to use in a situation or when trying to distinguish one word from another. If you are in elementary school it should be a good tool, but if you are older you should consider a better tool for more quality defintions.

My students use the Franklin Spelling Aces in my thrid grade class. They are easy for my students to use and they enjoy the editing their pieces of writing when using the Spelling Ace.